WRIGHT TWP. — From the time Noah Schultz took off on a lightning-strike touchdown run barely two minutes into the game, the Crestwood Comets knew they had a formula for success.
Why change?
Well, Crestwood didn’t.
Schultz raced for 193 yards and three touchdowns before taking the second half off Friday and the Comets romped for a team total of 499 rushing yards while trampling Wyoming Area 49-7 at Crestwood High School.
“We knew we wanted to come out and run the ball against those guys,” Schultz said.
The Comets certainly did.
They didn’t throw a single pass for the game and never faced a situation where they had to, as Schultz got loose for scoring sprints of 29, 23 and 66 yards within the night’s first 16 minutes. Nick Miscavage added a 63-yard touchdown run, Jaden Shedlock went 69 yards for Crestwood’s second touchdown and Brendan Dennis cashed in a Wyoming Area fumble with an 8-yard scoring run.
“Let’s keep the ball on the ground,” Crestwood coach Ryan Arcangeli said of his gameplan. “If the opportunity to pass was there, we would have taken it.”
Save that for another day.
The Comets ran their way into the end zone on their first six possessions. And when Crestwood’s ground game wasn’t taking off for touchdowns, the Comets were piling up 14 first downs with an unstoppable rushing attack that featured both Schultz and freshman quarterback Shedlock lining up behind center — and leaving defenders guessing which one would be taking the shotgun snap.
“That’s just to confuse defenses,” said Schultz, a senior who gained nearly 200 yards on just 14 carries Friday. “We can run with two guys, as long as we get our blocks down.”
Point proven.
Schultz charged straight up the middle with direct snaps on his 29- and 23-yard scoring runs, then hit high gear around right end for his 66-yard run to the end zone that gave Crestwood a 35-7 lead with 8:18 remaining in the first half.
“That one, I knew I had the edge even before the ball was snapped,” Schultz said. “I just ran as fast as I can.”
And Shedlock hardly look deprived when the passing game turned non-existent.
He simply followed Schultz’s lead and blazed straight through the middle of Wyoming Area’s defense for an impressive 69-yard scoring sprint to give the Comets a two-touchdown lead less than four minutes into the game — part of a night where he carried six times for 102 yards.
“Our young quarterback has no problem keeping the ball in his hands and running,” said Arcangeli, whose Comets also didn’t punt once in the game.
All those big plays helped run a couple of stinging defeats right out of Crestwood’s mind.
The victory avenged Crestwood’s difficult loss to Wyoming Area last year and helped the Comets (2-1) bounce back from last week’s defeat to Dallas.
“Last year, we had a tough game against these guys,” Schultz said. “We’re always back and forth with each other. They got us last year.
“It was our turn to get them.”
Crestwood 49, Wyoming Area 7
Wyoming Area`7`0`0`0 — 7
Crestwood`21`21`0`7 — 49
First quarter
CRE — Noah Schultz 29 run (Logan Rolles kick), 9:53
CRE — Jaden Shedlock 69 run (Rolles kick), 8:05
WA — Michael Crane 24 pass from Damian Lefkoski (Liam Burke kick), 5:32
CRE — Schultz 23 run (Rolles kick), 0:26
Second quarter
CRE — Brendan Dennis 8 run (Rolles kick), 11:54
CRE — Schultz 66 run (Rolles kick), 8:18
CRE — Nick Miscavage 63 run (Rolles kick), 5:46
Fourth quarter
CRE — Brady Davidson 1 run (Rolles kick), 3:03
Team statistics`WA`CRE
First downs`4`14
Rushes-yards`27-56`44-499
Passing yards`72`0
Total yards`128`499
Passing`3-12-0`0-0-0
Sacked-yards lost`0-0`0-0
Punts-avg.`4-37.5`0-0
Fumbles-lost`1-1`2-0
Penalties-yards`5-50`5-45
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — WA, Aaron Crossley 12-43, Lidge Kellum 6-14, Joe Marranca 2-4, Michael Crane 3-4, Oliver Bolin 3- (minus 4), TEAM 1- (minus 5). CRE, Noah Schultz 14-193, Jaden Shedlock 6-102, Brady Davidson 10-61, Brendan Dennis 5-55, Nick Miscavage 1-37, Allen Angon 1-29, Jay Swank 1-21, Robert Knight 2-24, Colin Lazo 1-6, Logan Rolles 1-3, TEAM 2- (minus 32).
PASSING — WA, Damian Lefkoski 2-4-0-36, Brady Jones 1-5-0-36, Lidge Kellum 0-1-0, Aaron Crossley 0-2-0.
RECEIVING — WA, Marranca 1-36, Crane 1-24, Crossley 1-12.
INTERCEPTIONS — None.
MISSED FGs — None.
